From Pastor John Davis:
How do we overcome evil? It is the question many are asking, but the answer might surprise many more. We do not overcome evil, at least in and of ourselves. Obviously, evil is not something that can just be eliminated and dismissed in the world in which we live, for throughout recorded history there has been evil in the world. Even when we remove someone, from whom great evil is perpetrated, someone else comes along and does likewise. Furthermore, if we are honest with ourselves, we all understand the potential for evil within our own hearts and lives. “For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. … For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing.” (Romans 7:15-19) So, while our country is currently struggling on how to eliminate or at least curb the evil of school/gun violence, we are trying to do so, as people who struggle with our own evil. Can we really address the social issue without first addressing the personal issue?
Some attempt to resolve this inner conflict (with which we all struggle) by redefining that, which is evil. Once again, this subjects evil to our own views and opinions, and perpetuates the problem of not recognizing and confronting what truly is evil. This redefinition “removes” the evil, hence “removing” the conflict, at least until something “really evil” comes along and forces us to confront what we have tried to disregard and are now ill-prepared to handle. As I talked about this previously, the one thing I failed to mention is that the importance of objectively defining evil is that it also objectively clarifies for us what is good, the importance of which will be understood in just a moment.
Others attempt to overcome such evil by self-help, self-determination, personal will power, and the like. While such efforts are noble and might provide temporary resolution of the personal battle we fight within between good and evil, a long-time resolution and a lasting peace escape us. Where both of these approaches fail is that they both rely on someone who has a penchant for evil—our selves. If we cannot trust in our own ability to overcome evil within us, then how can we trust others, including politicians, legislators, advocacy groups, and the like of any persuasion to overcome it in others for us?
So, as disciples of Jesus, how do we overcome evil? We first, trust the one who has overcome it him self, and second; we live life as he has called us to and as he has empowered us to. Look at some of the verses that speak of what Jesus has done that we cannot do: John 1:5 – “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it”; John 16:33 – “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” As followers of Jesus, we believe that Jesus has overcome the evil of sin, of Satan, and of the world. That doesn’t mean that evil still is not present, but evil no longer defines us, binds us, or rules us. Because we received credit for Jesus’ good (while he received the punishment for our evil) on the cross, we have forgiveness, a new life, and a new identity in Jesus! “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20) Please take a moment to consider what it means to no longer be ‘I’ but to be “Christ who lives in me”.
Because we are now “Christ living in me”, the implications of this for our struggle both internally and externally against evil are immense and life altering. Consider these verses that speak of how “Christ in me” affects us and our lives: 1 John 5:4-5 – “For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?”; 1 John 2:14 – “I write to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one.”; 1 John 4:4 – “Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.” Such a life with “Christ in me” is not some weak, helpless life, but one that is able to overcome—make that has already overcome—that, which our world and society are struggling to figure out as we speak. More than that, it gives us the tools we need to practically overcome the daily evils we face: “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” (Romans 12:21). That good, which overcomes evil, is not what we think or define it to be, but it is what God has defined it to be—it is what God has defined us to be, it is “Christ in me”!
And so, how does our
own victory over evil translate into a safer and less evil world? That
answer, and the real challenge for Jesus’ followers, both individually
and corporately will be in part 3. (I can’t promise tomorrow).
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